This invention relates to methods for winding successive convolutions of one or more continuous strands of material on a selected workpiece. More particularly it concerns an improved method for winding strands of wire onto ring-shaped articles, such as for example, toroidal cores. As used herein the term "core" means a ring-shaped article having the plane closed curve cross section of a toroid, or any one of various other different cross sections. The term "wire" as used herein means any material in the form of a flexible strand which is not so supple that it buckles easily when pushed from one end in a lengthwise direction. The terms "continuous wire supply" and "continuous wire source" means that the length of continuous wire in the supply or source is sufficiently long to enable a plurality of cores to be wound from the supply or source before the wire is used up.
Wire wound cores are well-known products which have been used for many years in various kinds of electrical equipment. Perhaps most recently very small wire wound cores have been used as memory elements in computers. Heretofore the wire has usually been wound onto these cores through the use of a rotating winding ring or shuttle which carries several loops of wire and rotates at high speed through the central aperture of the core. In so doing it winds the wire tightly onto the core (see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,810,530). More recently efforts have been made to accomplish this winding without inserting a shuttle or any element other than the wire through the central aperture of the core (see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,816). None of these devices and methods, however, are entirely satisfactory and some of them are quite complex.
It is therefore one object of this invention to provide an improved shuttleless method for winding cores with wire.
Another object is to provide a method for winding cores with wire which is simpler, more efficient and more accurate than many prior art methods and devices.
A further object is to provide a method having the above characteristics with an improved ability to count and control the precise number of turns of wire that are wound onto the core.
Still another object is to provide an improved method for providing cores with bifilar and multifilar windings.
Further, other and additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the summary, detailed description of the drawings and claims which follow hereinafter.